Sturgeons are the flagship species for World Fish Migration Day events in Bulgaria and Romania

Vienna/Bucharest/Sofia – Danube sturgeons are prominent participants in the World Fish Migration Day celebrated for the first time on 24 May 2014. Events in the capitals of Bulgaria and Romania are just two of more than 260 planned worldwide to draw attention to migratory fish and the need to remove barriers on their migration routes.

Sturgeons are among the fish that travel the longest to spawn. Before the construction of “Iron Gates” dams between Romania and Serbia, some had migrated as far up the river as Germany. Today, in the EU, Romania and Bulgaria are the only countries with viable populations of wild sturgeons and the few remaining species are not able to pass the huge dams and fall prey to poachers because of their valuable caviar.

WWF is working hard to tackle overfishing, the main threat to their survival. Through the LIFE+ Sturgeons. Protect Danube's Treasure, WWF sets out to stop the overexploitation of the critically endangered Danube sturgeons in Bulgaria and Romania and to secure the long term survival of these species with their high natural and economic value.

„In Sofia, Bulgaria, three 4.5-meter long sturgeons made their debut with the help of the WWF team. The life-size inflatable fish attract the attention of passers-by, who then learn more about the main threats to these majestic fish and how we could all help them survive“, says WWF’s Ekaterina Voynova.

On 25 May 2014 WWF organizes an event at the “Grigore Antipa” National Museum of Natural History in Bucharest, Romania. „We are showing children how fascinating wild Danube sturgeons are and why we should protect them. Then we show them an animation about the vulnerability of the Danube Delta to climate change, explaining how fish stocks will be affected. In the end there is a session of interactive and educative games included in the Black Sea Box“, explains WWF’s Adriana Trocea.

Inflatable sturgeons take to the streets of Sofia on World Fish Migration Day